Social Development Minister Louise Upston. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) will assess requests for hardship assistance to determine whether new, stricter rules for the accommodation supplement are pushing people to seek help elsewhere.
From 2 March next year, payments from all boarders will be included in income assessments to determine whether people qualify for accommodation supplements or temporary additional support, and to calculate how much income-related rent people pay in public housing.
At the moment, board payments are only included in this calculation when people have three or more boarders, or when it is their main source of income.
Work and Income said that could mean people were paid less in housing subsidies or paid higher income-related rents.
A spokesperson for MSD said because the policy change would mean a decrease in the rate of assistance received by some people, there could be an increase in applications for other hardship and housing supports.
In earlier analysis, it had suggested that the $150 million the government expected to save over four years could be overstated because of this.
"We cannot predict how many people will access hardship assistance and housing support products as a result of the change. As part of internal reporting for this initiative, MSD will monitor hardship assistance to see if it is increasing more than forecasted prior to this change.
"If MSD identifies significant changes that may require further investigation (such as significant increases in hardship assistance, above what had been forecasted), MSD will investigate those further and provide advice to ministers."
It has been estimated that about 13,200 households with boarders will be affected.
Ricardo Mendendez-March, Green Party spokesperson for social development, said people who were receiving the accommodation supplement were already facing unaffordable rents.
He said the government had not adequately communicated the impact of the bill.
"Poverty is a political choice and this government has chosen to leave thousands of low-income families considerably worse off. The changes to the accommodation supplement are unjustified, particularly in a cost of living crisis. The government is trying to pay for their tax cuts by pushing low-income families into debt or to Work and Income to ask for hardship grants to survive.
"Being $100 worse off each week may not mean much to wealthy government ministers, but for many families it's the difference between making ends meet or having to access a foodbank. We know that more families will end up needing to access hardship support because of this bill, putting pressure on families and other parts of the system that are already struggling to keep with the growing material hardship families are experiencing."
Social Development Minister Louise Upston said there are various forms of assistance that are available to clients who need help with their housing and living costs and who meet the eligibility criteria.
"This assistance will continue to be available to those people who are eligible, after 2 March 2026," she said.
The minister acknowledges the changes could be unsettling but said they were necessary to make the system more consistent.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
